


cotillion

by allwedontdo



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Auradon Prep (Disney), Childhood Friends, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, its just cute ok, theres literally nothing else to it, they pine after each other like crazy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:33:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28115460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allwedontdo/pseuds/allwedontdo
Summary: carlos always watched jay. it's about time that he realized that jay always watched him right back.
Relationships: Jay/Carlos de Vil
Kudos: 46





	cotillion

**Author's Note:**

> i rewatched descendants 2 and 3 recently and always shipped carlos and ben but i recently came across a jaylos fanfiction that i didn't know was jaylos and suddenly i couldnt help but stay up all night writing this. enjoy? also if things are not capitalized it's bc i originally wrote it in all lowercase on my phone like a good bisexual and manually went through and changed things so my eyes might have failed me.

Carlos always watched Jay. He wasn’t sure if it was his hair that rested past his shoulders or the slyness of his words and fingers when he took something from a passerby. Maybe it was the way his dark eyes could charm anyone that spoke to him into doing whatever Jay wanted them to. It could’ve been the way his thin lips curve up and show off a blinding grin or the smile lines that scrunch together at the corner of his eyes when he does.

Mal and Evie were the talkers, leaders, change-makers of the revolutions that they constantly found themselves in. Jay and Carlos stayed quieter and Carlos always used that time to watch the son of Jafar, just out of the corner of his eye. Before they were chosen to enter Auradon, Carlos wondered if he would ever be able to admit to himself the way Jay made him feel. He always knew something was there within his heart, beating fast whenever Jay was near, whenever his lips turned upwards, whenever he reached his arms up to tie his hair back. Carlos didn’t want to think about it and for awhile he was able to, but on Auradon, despite the constant uprisings, it was simpler. His mind _could_ wander. He had time now, although he wished he didn’t. The first night in their dorms, Carlos could see the outline of Jay’s body, chest rising and falling in total slumber. Carlos allowed himself in that moment to fantasize and hope.

Once cotillion rolled around, everyone at Auradon Prep began asking around for dates and Carlos knew he was completely screwed. It was the moment Lonnie showed up to fencing try outs that Carlos knew that. When lonnie revealed her identity, the boy smiled in a way that caused Carlos to immediately flame in jealousy. Jay had always been open about his fluid sexuality, flirting with anyone to get the expensive jewelry off their body on the Isle, but on Auradon, Jay’s interest ceased and he stopped talking about the people that he was hooking up with. There had been a sliver of hope for a moment that maybe there was a window, an opportunity that Carlos could take to put himself on Jay’s radar but as soon as Lonnie showed up, Carlos knew that the window had closed.

Carlos waited until the last person had left the locker room after try outs before standing in front of a mirror and forcing himself to say, “Jay is not an option.” It had been stern and aggressive but when he said it, a weight had lifted from his chest. He thought he had somehow fixed it, the ache in his chest whenever Jay playfully shoved him or teased him suddenly vanishing. But as soon as he got back to his dorm and Jay asked why it had taken so long, Carlos knew his quick fix was completely temporary.

The day Jane asked him to cotillion was the day he finally said it out loud and somehow told two people at once. He liked Jane. He really did. But in the way where he would be fine with playing a game of air hockey with her or smiling at her on the sidewalks of Auradon. On the phone with a babbling Evie, Jane approached him and it took her a second, but the whole question came out like vomit. She was so nervous and it absolutely killed Carlos to reject her. Evie heard over the phone and audibly began to urge him to say yes, but she couldn’t have been prepared to hear Carlos respond with, “Jane, I-” he took one of her hands, the other still cradling his phone at his ear. “Jane, I think you’re great and I never want to lose you as a friend but I- I just-“ and of course it was at that moment that Jay walked by, side by side with Lonnie, and Carlos’ eyes couldn’t help but catch the way the sunshine was hitting him. Jane turned to see who caught his attention and her shoulder fell. They fell in a way that knew and understood and wasn’t upset. they fell in total admiration and respect but also in a little bit of empathy. She saw how bad it hurt. Jay had seen them both and waved, receiving small waves in response. Jane had looked back at Carlos and gave him a soft sad smile. She said she understood, squeezed his hand, and let go.

Evie was then screaming into the phone as Jane walked away, and in the midst of intense interrogation from her, Carlos just said directly into the phone in a voice just as small as one of Chad’s mothers mice: “I’m in love with him.”

It wasn’t the response that surprised Evie, but the softness in his voice, the longing. Carlos had always kept to himself, but never showed too much interest in the world around him. She knew him and Jay were close—albeit not like this—but she didn’t expected the absolute softness within him, the fear of unrequitedness. Carlos just always seemed so sure of himself, but maybe she just didn’t know him as well as she thought. Evie had barely responded before Carlos simply hung up. He really couldn’t believe that he had finally said it out loud, but once he did, while weight was lifted, he still felt heavy. He almost felt heavier than before, suddenly all of pandora’s box was stuck locked inside him. He was in love with his childhood best friend, someone he saw everyday, someone he lived with and he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to feel relieved or as if he was drowning.

Once Carlos finally made his way back to his dorm, Evie was sitting at his door waiting. When she saw him, she rose to her feet and smiled just like Jane had, but opened her arms and Carlos fell into them without hesitation.

* * *

Jay couldn’t help but feel like he was being watched all his life. His father watching him as he emptied his pockets each evening after a day of the looting, stealing, and taking of anything Jay could get his hands on. Jafar was getting too old to be as sly as he used to be, only capable of running his shop and knowing the exact value of everything in it. As soon as Jay was 12 years old, Jafar pushed him out the front door and forced him to do his bidding. On his own for so long at 12 years old was terrifying to Jay, but he knew what he had to do. Keep your head down, but eyes on the prize. Once he truly garnered a reputation around the Isle (“Keep an eye out for Jafar’s boy, he’ll rob you for all your worth”), it always felt like eyes were on him. He changed his style every few days, hopeful that people didn’t recognize him because he couldn’t afford to be caught, to not do what his father expects of him.

The only time the feeling ceased was when he was alone, but when he was alone, he had a new demon to struggle with. Every time he closed his eyes, Carlos appeared and suddenly he was imagining—or fantasizing—of a future where they could be together, where Carlos would fall in love with him and the Isle and their parents were no longer a problem to deal with. He always knew he was in love with Carlos, growing up with an self-understanding of who he found attractive, which happened to be any pretty person that breathed. Carlos, though, was always different. He was more than just a pretty face, he was was kind and he was curious and he never judged Jay for what he did. Not that Mal or Evie ever did but that acceptance from Carlos always felt more important, more real.

When the four of them made their way to Auradon, Jay somehow felt that everything was going to be okay. He thought that he could maybe see that fantasy with Carlos come to fruition. That is, if Carlos even had a sliver of attraction towards him. Carlos had never made comments on anyone before and as far as Jay knew, probably hadn’t even kissed anyone before. In the limo to Auradon, he watched Carlos and had to bite down on his lip so hard to force himself not to subconsciously move his mouth into form, he was surprised it didn’t draw blood. He so badly wanted to be Carlos’ first.

When Jay met Lonnie, she immediately knew how Jay felt about his best friend. She said he didn’t make it obvious, but somehow she was able to guess simply from the way they touched, how he was always reaching out to pat Carlos on the back, touching his chest, slinging his arm over his shoulders. Her mother had taught her to be observant, think on her feet, and be caring but courageous. She saw it in his eyes too, how they darted to everyone on the fencing mats but always narrowed in on Carlos, even if they were standing right next to each other (which they most always were). They hung out the next day and that’s when she told him all of this, curious about their story and why he hasn’t told anyone yet. With a sigh and a tilt of his head, Jay shrugged. He wasn’t sure. It could’ve been the way his father didn’t speak to him so he never knew how to talk about his feelings, struggling with girl talk as soon as he became friends with Mal and Evie. Carlos entered their friend group last but seemingly reacted to their girl talk the same way. Lonnie listened to Jay briefly open up and she knew she wanted to help her new friend, offering her assistance to either get Carlos’ attention or telling someone else. Jay pondered the offer, finally admitting to Lonnie that he had always been extremely close to telling Mal, but lost his confidence last minute.

Jay told Mal he was in love with Carlos a few days later. The minor coaching and pep talks from Lonnie definitely helping in the terrifying endeavor. Mal simply tilted her head and sighed. “I love you both but you’re so oblivious,” she had said and reached over to pull him into a tight hug. Jay didn’t have time to process what that meant before Evie came barreling into her and Mal’s room raving about the patterns and colors that she was considering for Mal’s cotillion dress. Jay quickly saw himself out with a weight lifted completely off his shoulders. Lonnie had said, “Once you tell Mal, let’s talk asking Carlos to cotillion.” Riding on the confidence of a hundred lions, he set out to find lonnie to prepare.

That confidence was busted as soon as he saw Carlos outside the dorms. Walking back from Lonnie’s room to grab food together, they both walked past Carlos with Jane’s hand in his. Carlos caught his eye and in turn he waved, not wanting to be rude in a moment of absolute devastation. Carlos and Jane were never a pair that he would’ve expected and it hurt so bad he felt like he was falling.

As soon as they were out of view from the couple, Jay told Lonnie he didn’t have an appetite anymore and made his way to the sports field, not wanting to go back to his room but feeling like he needed to be alone.

* * *

Cotillion came quicker than either of the boys wanted, barely wanting to go anymore. After Jay saw Carlos and Jane together, he couldn’t help but remain silent around him. He didn’t know what to say. He had spent so much time prepping and preparing for this big reveal and confession to Carlos about his feelings but now it just all felt useless. He knew he couldn’t blame him but this was a person he had spent almost a decade pining over. It hurt. Cotillion was only a day away and Jay could barely get himself to get out of bed, nonetheless speak to the person that held every piece of his heart. Carlos had tried speaking to him, telling him they were going to be late to school, asking if he was okay, asking him if he needed anything, even just coming back to the room and telling Jay about his day just to talk to him. There was a knock on the door when Carlos was in the shower and so Jay finally rolled out from under his covers and opened it, Mal and Evie standing on the other side.

They asked if he was okay to which he indeed responded, despite lying through his teeth. He could see Mal trying to steer the discussion towards Carlos, hoping that his feelings weren’t the cause but Jy ignores the attempt and gave both of them a hug goodbye, promising he was still coming to cotillion the next evening.

As Jay was crawling back into his bed, Carlos appeared, dripping still from the shower. “So you’ll talk to them but not me?” Jay shut his eyelids as soon as he felt tears prickle. _You’re so overdramatic,_ he thought about himself. He felt his bed dip and knew Carlos had taken a seat next to him. “Please just talk to me, tell me you’re okay and what i can do to fix it.” Jay feigned slumber and allowed his body to rise and fall as it would if he were. The bed moved again and Carlos was gone.

That next night, Jay waited until Carlos had dressed himself and left the room before getting ready himself. Lonnie and her friends were going to stop by his room whenever they were headed over so that he didn’t have to be alone. She knew he wasn’t tagging along with the other rotten three.

Of course the event couldn’t have gone worse, Uma attempting to follow through with her lifelong threats against Mal again and failing per usual. It took them a while to clean up the deck that had been saturated by the ocean water but no one was willing to throw away a good party. Evie, Doug, Ben, Mal, and Carlos stayed together throughout the night. Lonnie wondered out loud multiple times that Carlos was alone, not with Jane but every time she did, Jay changed the subject to the subject of her cotillion sorrows, which seemed to be one of the guys in her group of friends. Towards the end of the night, couples began to break off more, leaving the single players off on the side. Mal and Evie were facing side by side with their boyfriends at the end of their fingers.

“You should go talk to Carlos,” Lonnie said. Jay scoffed and tried his best not to look at the boy leaning against an empty table. “I’m serious. He’s been alone all night. He’s still your best friend.” Jay looked at Lonnie and knew she was right. He couldn’t ice him out for too long. He already isn’t sure how he’s going to mend their friendship.

Lonnie shoved him away, in the direction of the lonesome boy. He, of course, was curious not to see Jane on his arm but not enough to speak to him right now. He went anyway, Lonnie giving him a look that he wasn’t about to test.

Sidling up next to Carlos, he offered him only a timid grin. “Thought you were coming with Jane,” he spoke, eyes remaining on the couples dancing in the middle of the ship. Carlos furrowed his eyebrows together and snuck a glance at the taller boy.

“Since when did you think that?”

“I saw you ask her. Outside the dorms the other day. You were holding hands.” Jay shoved his own hands in his pockets, swallowing a growing lump in his throat.

“I- I didn’t ask her.” Jay looked down at him then, confused as to what their intimate moment could have meant. “She asked me,” he continued, “but I said no.” The response was quiet but Jay heard it clear as day.

“You said no.” Carlos nodded and didn’t say anything in response, instead turning his whole body towards his best friend and staring up at him, completely unapologetically.

Jay’s silence the last few days were suddenly making sense, although still not. “Were you avoiding me because you thought I was coming here with Jane?” Jay left his gaze, staring down at the floor, feeling so stupid. He felt so completely hurt by the idea of Carlos being with Jane that he allowed himself to wallow, to react in any way he saw fit. He hadn’t wanted to face the idiocy of pining so hard over someone that had zero interest in him. Jay didn’t know what to say, caught off guard by Carlos’ forward question. He continued his silence, not knowing an appropriate response that didn’t include, ‘I’ve been in love with you since we were kids and I didn’t want you to be with anyone but me.’ Carlos shook his head and kicked at the rotting piece of wood beneath his feet. “It’s fine. Whatever, dude. I kind of thought that things would be better on Auradon, but I guess I was wrong. Go back to Lonnie. She looks bored without her date.”

Figures he’d think Jay was there with Lonnie. He took in a breath and held it. Maybe that’s what he needed to say. Maybe, maybe, maybe. He looked at Lonnie, who was watching them intently. She waved her hand forward, urging him to just take the leap, jump. Still watching her, he released the breath and opened his mouth. “Carlos, I’m not here with lonnie.” Carlos didn’t respond, not caring anymore about his best friend’s excuses and just wanting the night to be over. “I thought that the person I wanted to ask already had a date.” Once again, Carlos didn’t look at him, didn’t speak. Jay thought of multiple next moves, but settled with turning to completely face him, asking, “Why did you reject Jane?” He needed to know. He needed to understand the rift between them right now. Was Carlos the same jealous that he was? Is the feeling in his gut right? “Carlos.”

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do.” Carlos looked up at him. “Tell me.”

“Why?”

“Because I- I need to know,” Jay said, speaking under his breath so softly that he took a step forward to be sure that Carlos could hear him, only a small space remaining between them.

“What if you don’t like the answer?”

Jay looked down and reached his hand towards Carlos’, his heart screaming to follow through but he dropped it. When he looked back up, Carlos’ head was turned in the direction of these movements. Neither of them moved again. “What if I do?” With these words dripping from Jay’s lips, Carlos turned his head back up at him, their gazes catching. Carlos had water glistening his eyes, overwhelmed and emotional. Jay wanted to wipe them away with his thumbs and so he looked down at his hand as he began to trail it up the shorter boy’s arm, barely ghosting over the fabric of his suit when suddenly his head felt an unusual sensation and there was something firm against his mouth.

Carlos’ hands and his lips and his tears made contact with Jay’s face when he kissed him and Jay couldn’t help but stumble backwards but he caught himself and held tightly to Carlos’ waist. as soon as they were steady, Carlos pulled away and tried to utter an apology for catching him off guard or maybe even for the kiss too, but Jay didn’t want to waste any time doing what they could’ve been doing if either of them had gotten their shit together. Jay kissed him and kissed him and held him and kissed him until he couldn’t breathe and then some.

It was Carlos that pulled away first, Jay leaning forward to follow his lips back, already missing the sensation of his mouth. He tasted like vanilla, the cake that had been served earlier in the night, and a hint of the strawberry filling. “Fuck,” Jay murmured. His hands trembled at Carlos’ waist, squeezing tightly to stable himself. “ _Fuck_.”

Carlos let his hands trace over Jay’s cheeks and jaw, his eyes scanning over every feature of the boys face. He was taking it all in, feeling like if he blinks this moment would be over or maybe it was just one of his fantasies and he’ll wake up to Jay ignoring him again. “Jay,” he started, not even sure of what he was saying but knowing he needed to do it. Their brown eyes connect, hands holding tightly to the other, neither of them are sure where one boys starts and the other begins. “I love you. I have since we were kids. On the Isle.” Jay couldn’t speak, the words frozen in his throat so he leaned forward and pressed his lips into Carlos’ once, quick, and pulled the boy into him.

Jay spoke low in his ear, “I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember. It was always you and I think it always will be.” Carlos’ tears were still staining his cheeks and when they pulled away from the embrace, Jay finally reached up and wiped them away with his thumbs. He held Carlos’ face in his hands as he spoke again. “I have never been good at talking about my feelings. With the way we grew up, it- it was never about feelings. Feelings made you weak. So- so I’m sorry I shut you out. I’m sorry. I was hurt but it wasn’t your fault.” Carlos overlapped his hands over Jay's and leaned up to kiss him again, just once more.

“It’s okay. It’s _okay_. Can we just-“ He looked over to the dance floor. It was practically empty now, only a few couples remaining besides Mal, Evie, and their respective dates staring directly at them. Carlos blushed but look back at Jay. “I just want to dance with you.” Jay smiled and nodded, his entire being melting at the thought of the entire world seeing him and Carlos together like this. He was ecstatic, hopeful.

Carlos pulled Jay towards the middle of the ship, alongside their best friends as the music continued to softly play even though the clean up crew were hustling in. With Jay's hands on the boys waist and Carlos’ arms resting at the place his shoulders and neck met, he asked, “How’re things on Auradon now?” Carlos couldn’t help but grin wide.

“Better.”


End file.
